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MECHANICSBURG, Ohio — Every time Emerson and Alice Willis look at their driveway, they see a
very rough road — in more ways than one.

“It makes me think how stupid I was,” Mr. Willis said.

For years, like many of their neighbors in rural Champaign County, the Willises had a perfectly
acceptable gravel driveway. Then, about this time last year, they decided to upgrade to
asphalt.

Now, the 120-foot-long driveway is, for all practical purposes, back to gravel.

The “home improvement” cost the Willises $21,000.

It all started with a knock on the door of the couple’s farmhouse in August 2011.

The visitors said they were from State Construction. They said they had some extra asphalt that
they could use to pave the driveway — for a rock-bottom price.

The Willises said OK.

After two days of work — and with the project still incomplete — the workers disappeared. By
then, the Willises already had paid the company.

Almost immediately, the asphalt that had been applied began to crumble.

The Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio confirmed the Willises’ fears. State Construction,
which listed Columbus as its headquarters, had an “F” rating.

The problem, however, was — and is — far bigger than any single company, the BBB said. The
consumer watchdog noted that unscrupulous contractors are notorious for going door to door,
offering to pave or repave homeowners’ driveways for next to nothing.

Often, it said, the
result is what’s next to nothing.

Such contractors tend to target elderly and rural homeowners. Emerson and Alice Willis, now 82
and 75, respectively, fit both criteria.

State Construction’s owner, Terry Langston, told WBNS-TV (Channel 10) he is no con artist. To
prove it, he vowed to refund the Willises’ money.

Langston gave the couple $1,500 and then, apparently, left town.

The Willises didn’t hold out much hope of seeing Langston — or the rest of their money —
again.

A year later, the fate of their money remains uncertain, but there’s a decent chance they’ll be
able to confront Langston.

The contractor was arrested Aug. 10 in New Mexico. He has since been extradited to Kansas to
face a felony charge of theft by deception.

It turns out that a few weeks after Langston scammed the Willises, he did virtually the same
thing to a couple in Ellis County, Kan., investigators said.

Ohio authorities said they intend to seek Langston’s extradition after their counterparts in
Kansas are done with him. In Ohio, he has been indicted on a charge of theft from an elderly
person.

“I’ll probably have a few things to say to him,” Mr. Willis said.

In the meantime, he has a message for the rest of us: “When something like this comes up, you’ve
got to check these people out. You’ve got to be on your toes.”